Environmental Inspiration in Your Own Backyard

Student Inspiration May 28, 2010

In my office mail today I received a delightful little package–a set of thank you notes from a 5th grade class, wrapped in a ribbon! It was so nice of the teacher to think of it and have them write to me about a day I took them to a wetland. One of the best parts, however, was just for me to see what things had really stood out to them about our day!

I try to be really careful not to post any pictures of kids or names of kids on the internet, which is why you never see pictures of the actual groups of kids doing an activity.

I wanted to share a bit of the joy I got from their cards, however, so here are two of the pictures they drew:

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Inside this last card it says: “…I never knew that you could find cadis flies around here! I mean really! I never would have guessed that! Hope to see you around…”

A lot of the kids seem to remember the caddisfly larva we talked about and searched for under rocks near the edge of a creek. Another one said, “When you said we could go in the stream I was very excited. I thought it was interesting learning about macro invertebrates and how one of them glues rocks together.” Another wrote, ” I learned that cadis flys glue rock together and carry them like a shell.”

Here is a picture one of the kids drew of a hole that was in their wader and made their sock get all wet:

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Here is a great picture another kid drew of himself wielding a fish and shouting “on guard!” I am not sure exactly which activity inspired this drawing…

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One of the best things is one student wrote that she liked learning how to “check our creeks,” and that she actually checked a different creek by her house when she got home! How great is that?

I love getting a chance to look at kids writing or drawings to see what stands out to them about a day spent outside. Hopefully they wouldn’t mind me sharing them anonymously a bit here!

In the spirit of thanks, I want to make a minute to thank YOU readers, and anyone who has ever sent me pictures, commented, or subscribed to the blog. I love sharing these pictures and stories with you and I hope you keep coming back to read more!

Have a great evening every one–stay tuned for some exciting animal pictures of creatures the kids found in the woods today!